1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates, in general, to portable heating devices, and, more particular, to heating & cooking devices of vehicles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is not uncommon for travelers, and hunters, in particular, to become stranded in their vehicles due to heavy snowfall, engine failure, mud slides, and for many unanticipated reasons. Frostbite or even death may result from exposure to cold temperatures.
Permanently mounted heaters for travel trailers, motor homes, and other recreational vehicles as well known, as typified by U.S. Pat. No. 2,523,569, issued to R. N. Harvey. Portable heaters are also well known as shown by U.S. Pat. No. 4,015,580, issued to L. V. Moore and U.S. Pat. No. 2,798,476, issued to W. F. Marion, Jr. Moore also discloses a unit which is "safe" in bringing in external air and exhausting the noxious fumes. The Moore device, however, is not useable in automobiles, pickups, trucks, and the like, in being floor mounted. Moore also contemplates the use of charcoal as a fuel and therefore requires a firebox door for feeding the fuel to the firebox. U.S. Pat. No. 4,518,189, issued to R. Belt, discloses a cooking unit mountable for the bed of a pickup, but the Belt device is not useable for heating the interior of a vehicle. U.S. Pat. No. 4,621,609, issued to J. A. Kitchen, shows a heater and food warmer which is mountable within a vehicle by mounting directly upon the window itself. Besides not being useable with horizontally sliding windows, commonly found on camper shells, the Kitchen device includes an internally located fuel, wax, utilizing a consumable burner, a wick. Such a fuel renders the heater potentially dangerous, both as to noxious fumes and as to fuel spillage, in that the fuel is in the form of a liquid contained within a drawer or tray in the heater. It is also questionable whether the candle-like arrangement can produce sufficient heat for warming the vehicle in sub-zero temperatures. An added danger is involved in that the fuel reservoir and burner must be removed for cooking.